


It's Okay to Hurt

by wonderwheelzier



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: 2.08, Canon Compliant, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, steps toward friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 19:08:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19115890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonderwheelzier/pseuds/wonderwheelzier
Summary: it's not an apology, but it's a start(or that scene in 2.08 when max and mike are in the byers kitchen but max comforts mike and maybe they start to become friends)





	It's Okay to Hurt

**Author's Note:**

> i just really want a madwheeler friendship okay?

“I can see why El was your mage now.” The visible way Mike tenses is almost enough to silence Max, but she reminds herself that it’s all the more reason to keep going. “Lucas, he told me about her.”

“Well he shouldn’t have.” Mike’s voice is cutting, but she can detect a quiver under it. “And just because you know the truth doesn’t mean you’re in our party. You do know that, right?”

 _I don’t want to be angry_ , Max can hear herself saying. She looks at Mike, and it’s like looking in a mirror. Her own pain throbs in her chest, all the anger that that sort of pain creates. She sees it all as he turns away. He causes it in her, but she knows better now than to fuel it. She knows now that he doesn’t need any more pain. He needed someone gentle - she knew he needed someone gentle because _she_ needed someone gentle. Maybe being gentle was the first step.

“I know,” she concedes. “I’m just saying, El? She sounds like she was really awesome.”

“She was. Until that _thing_ took her.” Mike’s words send chills through Max. He gets up and starts to storm off, but she gets up too and grabs his arms.

“Mike-”

“What?” He wheels around on her, his nonexistent patience wearing out even further.

Max doesn’t say anything; she just gently tugs him closer and wraps her arms around his shoulders. And she holds him.

“Wh-what are you doing?” he asks, uncertainty wavering the anger he’d been trying to project.

“It’s okay to hurt,” Max tells him, her own voice choked up. “And it’s okay to be mad, but it’s also okay to ask for help.”

“ _Will_ needs our help,” Mike protests, pushing her away.

But luckily Max is stronger than him, and she maintains her grip on his wrist as she tells him, “Mike, you’ve been through a _lot_. I know you’re hurting, and it’s not gonna help anyone if you let that pain make you angry.”

She can see the confliction in his eyes, the anger and pain battling. “We have work to do.”

“Just take one minute for yourself,” she insists. Mike doesn’t fight her on it, and so she takes the opportunity to pull him back into a hug. “Will’s gonna be okay. All of your friends will be okay - _you’ll_ be okay.”

“But she’s _not_.” His voice breaks, and suddenly his arms are wrapping around Max’s waist, his fingers gripping her sweatshirt. As he cries into her shoulder, Max soothes her hand over his hair. “She’s not okay, I need to make sure Will is okay.”

“Who’s making sure that you’re okay?” She feels him tense in her arms, so she holds him tighter. “Let me. At least for now, just for a minute.” It takes a second, but Mike nods, and some of the tension leaves his body. She’s relieved when he lets himself cry as long as he needs to. Neither of them say anything, but they don’t need to.

Gradually, Mike’s hold on Max loosens, and his sobs turn into sniffles. “Feeling better?” she asks. Mike shrugs as he wipes his eyes, then gives a short nod. Max gives him a smile and hits him lightly, supportively on the arm. “Good. Now go get that thing out of Will.” Mike looks solemn, but he nods and tries his best to give Max a smile, even just a small one.

He takes what he needs and turns to leave. However, he pauses in the doorway, then turns back around. “Max?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“Any time.” And she means it. Mike smiles and nods again, even more awkwardly this time, before leaving. Max smiles to herself - that’s a start.

**Author's Note:**

> mike you still need to apologize


End file.
